Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to video playback and, more specifically, to identifying previously streamed portions of a media title to avoid repetitive playback.
Description of the Related Art
A conventional streaming video service typically provides access to a wide variety of different types of media titles, including full-length movies, animated shorts, documentaries, and episodic serials, among others. Episodic serials oftentimes include an introductory sequence that is played at the beginning of each episode. Introductory sequences commonly depict primary characters in the serial, play a theme song associated with the serial, display credits indicating persons involved with production of the serial, and so forth. Episodic serials also sometimes include a recap sequence where content from one or more previous episodes is displayed in order to refresh the viewer's memory about past events in the serial and provide context for the current episode.
One problem with the above approach is that introductory and recap sequences can be fairly repetitive across the various episodes in the serial. Consequently, users of the video streaming service may be forced to watch repeatedly content that has been previously watched, causing those users to become bored or annoyed.
As the foregoing illustrates, what would be useful is a technique that allows users to skip content in an episode that has been previously played back to users.